58 million native Americans unemployed.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) shows that over the last 14 years, the net gain in the number of working-age individuals currently holding a job in the US has gone entirely to immigrants, both legal and illegal.
The study, conducted by CIS’s Steven A. Camarota and Karen Ziegler, analyzed numbers from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics to come up with these findings, carefully studying employment data from the year 2000 up through the first quarter of 2014. The results of the study are alarming, showing that immigrants are slowly taking over the American workforce.
“All of the net increase in employment went to immigrants in the last 14 years partly because, even before the Great Recession, immigrants were gaining a disproportionate share of jobs relative to their share of population growth,” says the report. “In addition, natives’ losses were somewhat greater during the recession and immigrants have recovered more quickly from it.”
According to the report, there are currently 127,000 fewer working-age – which is defined as being between ages 16 and 65 – native Americans employed than there were in 2000. But on the immigrant side, employment has increased by an astonishing 5.7 million.
What’s more, there were 17 million more native-born Americans not working in the first quarter of this year than there were in 2000. The supply of Americans able to work is also high, says the report: there are 25.3 million natives with no more than a high school diploma, 17 million with some college, and 8.7 million college graduates – all of whom are out of work.
Although things have picked up a bit for natives in the last few years, immigrants are still holding strong as the backbone of the American workforce, says the CIS report. Since 2010, 43% of employment growth has gone to immigrants, who are occupying jobs in just about every sector of the US economy, not just one or two.
“Immigration has fallen in recent years. But despite the economy, between 2008 and the start of 2014 6.5 million new immigrants (legal and illegal) settled in the country and three million got jobs. Over the same time, the number of working-age natives holding a job declined 3.4 million,” CIS says.
The biggest in the report, however, is 58 million – that is the number of working-age natives that are currently not employed in the US.
The conclusions of the report could have a profound impact on the ongoing immigration reform debate, as Camarota and Ziegler state emphatically that there is absolutely not a shortage of workers or qualified labor in the US.
This, they say, leads into their second main conclusion: that the high amount of immigration experienced over the last 14 years does, in fact, lead to less employment for Americans. This means the argument that immigration leads to economic growth and job opportunities for natives is simply not true, which is their third conclusion.
“With 58 million working-age natives not working, the Schumer-Rubio bill (S.744) and similar House measures that would substantially increase the number of foreign workers allowed in the country seem out of touch with the realities of the U.S. labor market,” the report says.
1 Comment
Ugh. I just read somewhere that we unemployed Americans don’t want to work low paying jobs. Yeah. Ok. How many times have I applied to Walmart? Three. My boyfriend also. I have 189 dollars in food stamps coming in, with three kids and nothing else. After UC expired. Lovely.
I obviously didn’t get hired at Walmart. Who is near me? Indians who can’t even speak English. I’m not prejudiced, etc. But no one should tell people like myself that I don’t want to work. Any. Darned. Job.
It even would have extended my UC benefits, due to the fact you can work and claim UC benefits, legally. (Reporting the wages you earned, etc to UC.)
It’s beyond comprehension why people think this way. On top of Walmart I applied at McDonald’s, etc. Also.
They get HELP, jobs shipped to their countries, and even jobs here. Crazy.
And how are kid’s as in teenagers supposed to learn how to work? Not for nothing when I was a teen you could always find a job. Not anymore.
And I went to Ruby’s the other day. Our waiter was Mexican, very polite but… an immigrant. I freaking applied there and didn’t get hired.
Everyone on UC or who lost it is looking for JOBS. Anything. Even if like me, they took a 50 percent cut on UC and a 95 percent one on welfare. Because that’s fun.
ESPECIALLY when you have to ask for 20 bucks to go to planned parenthood to get an annual and these people walk in with HEALTH INSURANCE! I have women’s health and haven’t had insurance for five YEARS.
Freaking bonkers. And totally uncool. Especially when they get housing and we unemployed get nothing except our things in a dumpster like our beds.
And on top of this. No help for vets or jobs but hey you give it to immigrants. Nice way of repayment for their services over everyone else that is facing hardships.
(And I seriously want to know, if they can’t speak ENGLISH or read it how did they pass the tests on Walmart ‘ s sites and others. Come. On.)